Traffic chaos as Shrewsbury A5 island work starts

Barriers and cones arrived overnight to the carriageway between the roundabout and the Emstrey Island.

They are in preparation for an improvement scheme taking place over the coming months which will see the junction redesigned and lights installed to improve traffic flow.

And long queues formed as people battled to work, with delays of more than 20 minutes reported as traffic backed up along London Road in the direction of Shrewsbury's Shirehall.

Delays were also reported on the A5 in both directions as motorists contended with the roadworks for the first time.

Commuter Mark Williams, 48, from Ludlow, said: "The roads were a nightmare.

"There were queues all the way from Preston boats island to Salop Leisure island and then on to Dobbies in my direction. It was terrible."

And Matthew Rodney, on his way to a coaching session in Shrewsbury, tweeted: "Coaching in Shrewsbury today. Absolute traffic every route I go. Ridiculous."

According to the Highways Agency, work would be relegated to night-time hours, between 7pm and 7am, but on its website this morning they said delays should be expected until 9.30am.

There were further problems for motorists travelling from the A5 east after a van overturned on the M54 junction with the M6, causing delays of up to 30 minutes.

Highways Agency Project Manager, Jess Kenny said the A5 roadworks will benefit drivers in the long run, easing congestion once they are completed.

She added: "To minimise disruption, we will carry out the majority of the work with lane closures at night, but some full closures will also be needed between the hours of 7pm and 7am.

"I advise people to leave longer for their journeys as diversions will be necessary at times and reduced speed limits will be in place to protect workers and the public."

Work at Preston Boats junction will retain the existing roundabout but include traffic lights on all approaches. The Highways Agency says these will be 'smart' signals that read the demands of traffic on the junction approaches and alter timings automatically.

The new system will introduce 'free flow' lanes on the A5 westbound and A49 to A5 eastbound arms, which officials claim will remove a significant volume of traffic from the junction.

Emstrey island will benefit from several approaches being widened and widening of the island itself to provide three lanes with traffic lights.

The van driver involved in today's crash at the junction of the M54 and the M6 suffered minor injuries.

Traffic queued back to junction seven for Great Barr following the accident between junction 10 for Walsall and 10a for the M54.

The crash happened on the northbound side at around 6.40am. Two lanes were closed while the van was recovered and debris moved from the road.

Highways Agency spokesman Stuart Thompson said: "We got the call at about 6.45am to a van that had overturned. It was blocking two lanes."

Staffordshire Police spokeswoman Faye Casey added: "We received reports just after 6.40am of a white van that had overturned. There was debris on the road. "

The driver of the van was treated by paramedics but did not need to go to hospital. One ambulance was sent to the scene.